School and city races headline ballot

Thursday, April 3, 2008By Lisa Schlichtman

The most highly contested races in next Tuesday's general election appear to be among candidates seeking a spot on one of the local school boards. There is competition among candidates in five of the seven school boards in Barry County.

The race for city office also has attracted a few candidates as well. Contested elections will be held in the cities of Wheaton, Washburn, Exeter and Cassville.

In addition, local voters will be electing several road district commissioners.

On April 8, the polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Ballots and candidate questionnaires are printed in this week's Cassville Democrat. The ballots appear on page 22 and the questionnaires can be found on pages 10, 11 and 12.

School board elections

As usual, the Southwest R-V School Board has attracted the most candidates of any school race. Incumbents Janet Dart Ballard and Angie Corn will face off against challengers Albert Pendergraft, Jerry "Pete" Rose, Danny Laney, John Banks and Jeremy Bernard.

Exeter voters will be picking three candidates from a four-person ballot that includes incumbents Sharon "Bobbi" Vanzandt, Jeston Scott and Doug Weston and newcomer Kerry Mattingly.

Wheaton district patrons have four candidates to choose from. They include incumbents Larry Prewitt and Lewis Royer and challengers Landon Brattin and Bob Brown.

In Shell Knob, voters will be filling one one-year term and three three-year terms. Candidates for the one-year term are Amanda Lawson and incumbent Bob Stewart. Those vying for the three-year term are incumbents Howard Trimble and Joan Tull and challengers David Steinmann and Roger Pinnell.

In each race, area voters will be selecting three candidates from the ballot list to serve on their local school boards.

City elections

The race for city office in Cassville features two contested races.

In the fight for north ward alderman, Jo Ellen Fielding, Samuel Harris and Dennis Baker are all vying for the post, which was vacated by Joe Cavness, who did not seek re-election.

For the south ward alderman's seat on the Cassville City Council, incumbent Herb Primrose is running against challenger Terry Heinz.

In Exeter, incumbent north ward alderman Brenda Adkins faces opposition from challenger Marilyn Erwin, and in Washburn, incumbent Ray Hayworth will go up against John Tiedeman for the open west ward alderman post.

Another strongly contested race can be found in Wheaton as incumbent Nancy Rosentreter faces off against challengers J.P. Hickman and Dave Harris, who formerly served as Wheaton's mayor.